The Best Way to Bag that Promotion!

Let’s face it, everyone loves a promotion – both us as employees and our employers alike. For a company, allowing existing employees to take on additional responsibilities is a great way to boost employee motivation and morale, helping us feel valued and resulting in many benefits from high productivity and commitment – preventing companies from losing their valuable and important employees.

I recently blogged about the Gender Pay gap, and how many women end up in lower paid roles due to family or caring commitments. There is also a tendency for women to lose confidence after a gap in their employment, with many of us facing a confidence crisis when returning from maternity. It’s time for this to change, and for employees to push for the promotions they rightly deserve!

Every year, thousands of hard-working employees attempt their climb up the career ladder with their sights set on a promotion. Although, sadly, it’s not as simple as it sounds…

What are the best ways to bag a promotion?

Before bringing up the subject of promotion with your manager, it is important to figure out exactly where you want to be. Are you happy? As random as the question sounds, according to a Business Insider article, the key to getting a promotion is being happier at work, so if you’re not happy – don’t
even entertain the idea.

Alternatively, if you are happy and content in your company, it is crucial to reflect on your current position and evaluate how you have found success so far in your career, to help you progress further. Think about what strengths have come into play in the past, and what could be holding you
back from reaching that all-important promotion territory.

As a result, doing this should help you figure out what you need to do in order to be considered for a promotion, as well as highlight any areas that may need to be worked on to get where you want to be.

Do your research

As always, research is essential. If you were to apply to a job outside of your workplace, you would ensure that you knew everything about the job description and the company, inside and out. It should be no different when it comes to looking for a promotion to a different role in your company. As someone who works in HR it’s amazing how many internal applicants for roles take this for granted – assuming that they don’t need to sell themselves or highlight their skills in as much detail as in theory they are ‘already known’. Don’t fall into that trap.

If you have a specific job title in mind, it is worth finding out as much as you can about the position, as the more you know, the more you can impress management and show them that you’re the right person for the job. If there are job descriptions and person specifications for the role available, download them and compare the essential criteria to your own skills. Are there any areas that you need to work on or attempt to gain experience in before you will be considered?

In addition, thinking about what you would want to achieve in your new position is also a good idea. It is no doubt that your boss will be impressed if you list off goals and explain how you plan to achieve them in your new position.

Network

Networking and talking to those with expertise can be highly beneficial when looking to bag a promotion. It is worth bringing up the idea with your immediate supervisor, manager or trusted colleague to see what they think and how they may be able to help.

By explaining that you are interested in a promotion, they may be able to tell you about any upcoming opportunities in the company, or give you a good idea of what management are looking for. Similarly, they could highlight possible problems or challenges that you may come across when
discussing with management, and give you feedback on certain aspects of your performance that may hinder your success.

It is worth enquiring if you need any additional skills or qualifications to jump up the career ladder. If this is the case, it will look impressive if you start completing a course or extra training outside of work, such as Prince2 training, to increase your chances.

Show them what you’re capable of

It is vital to give your job your all, more than ever, as once you mention hoping for a promotion, your bosses may well be checking your performance regularly. Thus, act on everything management has suggested improving, and always ensure you are acting in a professional manner.

You want to prove you’ve got what it takes to move up the ladder, so taking on more responsibilities, taking pride in your work and gaining the appropriate skills are needed for promotion. It is also important to not shy away from any challenges that may arise, as this is prime
time to show your capabilities. Take the time to prove just how hard-working and dedicated you are – especially as solving problems is a great way to get your bosses attention, and these are the people who tend to get a promotion.

If you work in a large company it can sometimes be hard to stand out from the crowd, however, putting yourself forward for inter-departmental projects, or joining work based groups are a great way to get noticed and raise your profile. In some ways, it’s a way of networking and meeting people in the company that you haven’t spoken to, which can be a fantastic way to learn of job opportunities – someone may even mention your name and help you get promoted.

I hope you find these tips helpful, and I wish you all the best in bagging the promotion you deserve!

 

*This is a collaborative post*